His Endless Gifts: Love

This post is part of the His Endless Gifts series. I would love for you to join me every week. If you haven't already, please subscribe so you don't miss out! 

"Mom, do you want to know how much I love you?" This is a question my three year old often asks lately with eagerness in his eyes.


"Sure, how much?"

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5...", he keeps counting as high as he can go.

"Wow, that sure is a lot!"

Now, we know love can't be measured by a number, but we try. Well, maybe not like my son, but how often do we try to measure how much we are loved? Like we can fit it into a measuring cup. We look at other peoples relationships and think, "Wow, he must love her a lot!" Some of us may have even heard, "Well, if you really love me you would..." Ouch.

Now being in a single season right now I have thought who am I to speak about this "gift of love"? But, I realize that is only the devil trying to make me doubt myself because even though I am single, it doesn't discredit me from God's love! And that is the love that I am holding on to.

"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

I have the ability to love others because God first loved me!

Think about it. We only know love and can love our children, our spouse, our neighbors, our pets and yes, even our enemies because God gave us love. God is love and He gave Himself  "...he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. " (John 3:16) "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8) 

He is our first love and nothing can separate us from His love! 

I love the words in Chris Tomlin's song, White Flag:

We raise our white flag 

The war is over

Love has come

Your love has won

Yes indeed, His love has won. His gift of love endures forever. May you allow Jesus Christ to make his home in your heart and experience His great love. May God give you the power to understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is and to be made complete in His fullness.

Have a blessed day!

Gifts we have already spoken of in this series: hope. Please join me next week as we will be celebrating the gift of salvation.

Linking up with:

Not Looking for Sympathy

When LaToya asked me if I would write a guest post on single parenting I immediately said yes! First I thought how can I sum up single parenting in one post? Naturally, my first response is it is hard! But parenting is hard, life is just hard! 

Please join me at Christian Momma to find out why I'm not looking for sympathy.

Have a blessed day!

His Endless Gifts: Hope

This post is part of the His Endless Gifts series. I would love for you to join me every week. If you haven't already, please subscribe so you don't miss out! 

The days were dark from the large clouds hovering over. Each day they seemed to grow bigger and heavier weighing on me, the space between the clouds and myself getting smaller. I would look up, but all I could see were the dark clouds and nothing beyond.

No light, no hope, no joy.

Then there would be days when the clouds appeared a little lighter, perhaps receding some? A possibility of a sliver of light trying to poke through?

Those were the days he had enough. He wanted to get clean. He promised he would. The hope would return. He could beat this! We would have the life we always talked about, to get married and have kids. My heart would fill with hope and I would begin to dream again. We would have a family. A girl name already picked out, images of little boys who looked just like their dad. But it was always short lived and my dreams would come crashing down around me...again and again. The broken pieces of my heart lying at my feet.

That is how my life was like being in a relationship with an addict. The highs and lows and wanting to be strong for him. To fix him, to take all his hurt and agony away. To wait and hope until that day would come when he would be free and all our dreams would come true.

To hope is to cherish a desire with anticipation. It usually refers to something in the future.

 How many times do we put all of our trust and hope in our own abilities and desires?

"The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love." Psalm 147:11

Well, that was many years ago, obviously before kids and before I was walking with Jesus. This past Easter morning I awoke with such a gladness in my spirit. I realized I am now filled with hope. After all, it was Resurrection Day! Imagine how much hope Jesus' disciples must have had when they saw Him alive! All their hopes and dreams that crashed around them days before are now possible once again! 

Jesus died and rose again, defeating death. He is our hope! We have hope because as believers our old lives have died with Him that day on the cross and we are made new creatures in Him! We have hope that He will return and we will spend eternity with Him! 

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Let me ask you, are you walking in the hope the Lord gives?  If not, turn to Him for He has great plans for you! "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Have a blessed day!

Please join me next week as we celebrate the gift of love.

Bloggers Who Bless Me Daily

I am feeling so much love from a wonderful community of bloggers! Who knew how quickly a group of women could come together and bless me every day! 

Thank you Salina and Anita!

I received the Versatile Blog Award from actually two of these sweet ladies who have become dear friends and sisters to me! Salina from State of the Heart and Anita from Scattering The Stones.

Thank you, Salina for including me in the very beginning with the creation of Bloggers in God. Salina has such a kind and sweet spirit and I feel a real connection with her through her writings and her beautiful photography! Anita is a very talented writer who brings the Word of  God to life. She encourages and inspires me in so many ways. Please take a moment and visit their blogs, you will also be blessed!

The Versatile Blog Award rules state:

If nominated, you have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

• Thank the person who gave you this award and include a link to their blog.
• Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly and nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

My chosen nominations for the Versatile Blog Award

This was so difficult for me because I enjoy so many blogs! When I started blogging I had no idea how many Christian women want to proclaim the Lord's good news.

Keepin It Real - Starla

State of the Heart - Salina

Guiding Light from His Word - Kassie

Calvary's Love  - Carmen

Everyday Truth  - Lori

Faith.Hope.Love - Inspiration for Life's Journey  - Toya

My Evident Faith - Lori

Scattering the Stones – Anita

Coffee Time with God –Ursula

Mother of Writing – Margaret

The Beauty in His Grip – Joan

Stir Me Up Lord - Dawn

A Pause on the Path  Shanda 

Beholding Glory - Laura

Encouragement of Faith - Renee

Chronic Christian Crafter - Erin

Morning Cuppas With Glenys - Glenys

Here to Find Him - Megan

JEMs Faith Journey - Janie 


Okay, so I hope nobody is counting ;-)

7 Things About Myself

• Love my family and friends!
• I'm a home-body
• I have a wonderful twin sister
• I'm a morning person. My parents were right on when they named me Dawn
• I'm falling deeper in love with my Lord and Savior more and more everyday
• Can honestly say I AM HAPPY
• Learning to intentionally see God's amazing handiwork all around me and letting that be enough

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

The MPG's First Series Starts Next Friday!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

The title of my blog came to me one night as I was reading a devotional to my children. It was a teaching on all good gifts come from God, especially His Son, Jesus Christ, the most perfect gift of all! I have been told the title is not grammatically correct, but I don't care if it is or isn't. In fact, I like it even more because it only reminds me of how much I'm not perfect and how much I need Him! 


I have been thinking a lot lately about all the gifts God gives each of us and how easy it is to take them for granted. I'm not talking about the physical gifts we can see like our children, the spring flowers, etc... I'm referring to the gifts He gives us faithfully through His Son. If we could just intentionally recognize at least one every day and thank Him for them it will automatically draw us closer to Him and into His presence. It will definitely keep us focused and keep life in perspective. 


A gift is freely given without payment in return. It is voluntarily given to show favor towards someone. 


In honor of these gifts that God gives us through His Son, I will be doing our first series ever! How exciting is this? We will be looking at some of these gifts and what they mean to me and my family. Since we just celebrated Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, now is the perfect time to continue in the remembrance of what He did for us and continues to do so because it didn't just end at the cross. 


Please join me every week starting next Friday, April 20th to intentionally acknowledge and thank the Lord for His Endless Gifts.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

Have a blessed day!

Today I'm linking up with:

Jesus Christ Is The Most Perfect Gift

I wanted a picture of Jesus. It had to be the perfect picture of Him. One that touched my soul when I looked at it. I wanted a visual aid and even though I know He is with me always, I want to see His face.

Then one day there it was. One day when I wasn't even looking for it. So I printed it.

I anxiously waiting for the image to appear on the white page. Finally, the printer was done and released the image into my hands. I was so excited I finally got my picture of Jesus! One I would hang in the kitchen because that is where we spend the most of our time.

But when I brought the image closer, so I could really look at it, that is when I saw it.

My immediate reaction was "Oh no! It didn't print perfectly."

There were red spots splattered all over the picture. They are not very noticeable at first glance, but then you see them. Several spots on His face, in the background, in His hair and on His white robe. Then the most amazing thing happened. This picture that I thought was ruined became the perfect picture of Jesus to me. I sensed the Lord speaking to my heart, "Daughter, these red spots represent my blood. A reminder for you that when you look at this picture of me, you not only see my face, but the cross. I love you so much I died for you. My blood had to be shed for your sins and all the sin in this world."

Today, that picture still hangs in my kitchen and I look at it every day. "Thank you Jesus for fulfilling God's will and for loving us with so much depth beyond anything we can ever fully comprehend. Thank you for laying down Your life for us."

But we must remember it didn't end at the cross. Jesus rose on the 3rd day! He defeated death and He is alive! Let us celebrate His resurrection today because God gave us eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. And when we believe in Him that same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives within us.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you" 

1 Peter 1:3-4